I was thrilled to see a confirmed seat on a sleeper coach in Nagpur-bound Korba Express on a hot February morning. The ticket was waitlisted as it was booked at a short notice.
Since no other passenger entered the coach from Kottayam to Trichur, I had some quiet time. So I gave myself a gift…sleep. I needed it since I was tired. In Trichur, passengers slowly passengers trickled in and out.
By now I was fresh to observe happenings inside the train as well on the platforms. At Shornur a tall man, who seemed a long distance traveler, got in and settled at the window seat.
He had a gentle demeanor. He was bald, wore saffron-colored dhoti and shirt and carried a sling-cloth bag. “Here is a priest,” I thought to myself.
As if to confirm my guess, he took out a small booklet from the bag and immersed in prayer.
After some time he made a few calls and disappeared for a while. When he returned he left the side seat and came to the middle of the berth and started sleeping. As there was no other person on that berth, I told him to lie down.
He thanked me and took three fourth of the berth.
Even in sleep he clutched on to his bag.
I was eager to know more about him.
There was something special about him.
After a few hours, as passengers came in, he went back to the window seat.
We exchanged smiles and began talking.
He was accompanying his nephew, an engineering student, who was to present a paper at a seminar in Nagpur, the city where I lived. The nephew was the only student chosen from his college in Kottayam.
The person who was supposed to accompany the student had to change his plans suddenly and the family did not want to send the teenager alone to a strange place. His father was employed in Saudi.
The man with the bag was the uncle who stayed in the joint family. He was the mentor and inspiring guide for all the children.
While the teenage boarded the train in Kottayam, the uncle, got in from Shornur. He had gone to Kannur for some work.
As he shared about family he said, “Even if I come home at 3 am the whole family will wait for me.”
I was curious to know what took him so long to reach home.
“I have told my nephews to see me as their friend and tell me all that happens in the school,” he continued. “So they wait for me. We have meal together and then listen to the day’s happening. The children share with me what happened with their friends, the moments of joy as well as disagreement. I listen intently because I know the teenagers have to be guided on the right path to build up strength of character.”
As he narrated, I thought to myself: “This man listens to teenage worries, woes, joys and offers tips to face them positively.”
The family goes to bed after listening to him. “The next day they will return from school to tell me how they faced their angry friends and how have recapped their friendship, and end with,’Thank you Uncle.”
And my thinking went along this line: “Here is a man tall in his spiritual life, firmly rooted in the reality of the world.”
He share with co-passengers food items he had bought. “He is other-centered,” my list of positive points about him continued to grow.
“What are you doing, Sir” I asked finally.
“I am in service,” he smiled.
He then asked about my mission.
When I told him my congregation was entrusted with the mission of evang
elization and education through media of communication he wanted to know more, especially how the founder got such an idea.
He was the first person to ask me about a detailed history of our congregation. I started with the Eucharistic experience of our founder James Alberione. I narrated how he had started from nothing, trusting in divine providence and how God blessed his faith.
“A man sick with tuberculosis, went on to found five religious congregations and four secular Institutes and one association of cooperators,” I felt proud as I concluded my story.
His nephew, who was in another coach, would visit him time and again. As we neared Nagpur he came and sat with us taking pictures on his Smartphone. The uncle held him close like a little child and continued talking to him.
“He is caring and affectionate,” I continued adding points to my report. “No he cannot be a police,” I said in my mind.
When he told me he was in service, It clicked me that that he could be in the police department. But the more I observed him, I ruled out that possibility.
When we reached Nagpur station an 85-year-old co-passenger offered to help me with my luggage.
My companion told the elderly man that he would help me to an autorikshaw.
Once I was seated in the auto, I asked the teenager his name and then to his uncle.
“I am Prakash and by the way I work in the police dept,” the elder man smiled.”
“No,” you cannot be in Police service, you are too gentle,” I wanted to shout.
By then, my vehicle had already gained speed and the uncle and nephew disappeared from my sight.